Sex Packets
-Digital Undergound
Released 1990 on Tommy Boy Records (TBCD 1026)
Production credits include:
The track listing for the CD:
- The Humpty Dance
The cut is the seminal party hit.
- The Way We Swing
This is the defining sound of jazzy swing meets hiphop
- Rhymin' on the Funk
Cookie-cutter Parliment samples lay down the background for this one. (A funny self-parody of this appears on their E.P. Release)
- The New Jazz (one)
(Instrumental showing off Piano Man's skills with DJ's Fuze and Chopmaster J at the turntables)
- Underwater Rimes
Maybe the greatest track on the album. Shock-G lays out some great, fun lines in a style that would influence the hiphop sound of the '90s. You can definetly hear the east coast upbringing on this one.
- Gutfest '89
An amusing cut that "takes place live" at an annual Sex Festival
- The Danger Zone
An Anti-Crack-Use 'advisory' typical of the early '90s. You'll see similar tracks on many of the albums at the time, for example Young M.C.'s Just Say No.
- Freaks of the Industry
An explicit yet light-hearted Sex Rhyme (to use Ice-T's term for it).
Let's say you're freakin, the furniture's squeakin, she's tweekin', sayin that's she's weak-in the
knees... Inch for Inch and pound for pound, you're taxin' it and waxin' it and workin' it around/ until the booty starts makin' that clappin' sound...
- Doowutchyalike
The follow-up single to The Humpty Dance. The album version is extended to, "give you more of what you like."
- Packet Prelude
A 'freaky' instrumental lead-in.
- Sex Packets
A slowed down, funked up, extended track outlining the Sex Packets concept.
It's like a pill: you can either chew it up/ or like an alkha-seltzer, dissolve it in a cup. Now peep this; see the girl on the cover? You black out and she becomes your lover!
- Street Scene
Skit demonstrating the Packet Deal. The Danger Zone plays from a stereo in the background, self commentary? I believe so.
- Packet Man
Taking the Sex Packets meme and running with it. This track is one of the best. Great lyrics in an east coast style.
- Packet Reprise
And finally, an instrumental to close out the record.
Tracks that appear on the Cassette Tape but not on the CD (when does that ever happen?!):
- Hip-Hop Doll
The composition of this track is great with a funky, jazzy flavor, like much of the sounds from the Underground. The lyrics tell a story, the style is eloquent and fun. I'm suprised this track didn't appear on the CD while The Danger Done survived the cut.
- Sounds of the Underground
A hardcore, hard hitting track. DU shows the west coast influence in the production but the lyrics are intricate. Its omissiom from the CD shocks me. This is a sound that the non-vinyl, non-tape masses could have really connected with.